Innuendo – Danny Kortchmar

As much a product of its time as Danny Kortchmar’s 1973 debut Kootch, 1980’s Innuendo is a heavy, guitar jam record, built primarily on slow bluesy numbers but seasoned with the occasional reggae workout flavored with electronic voices or a slow, churning ballad or tightly wound new wave rocker. As the title track is one of those punchy neon-colored groovers, it’s tempting to call this Kortchmar’s attempt to ride the new wave wave, but this is a ’70s sessionman hangover, too hard and heavy in how it tries to sound young, and apart from the dynamic “Hair of the Dog,” not hooky enough to really catch, and the whole thing seems as desperate and sweaty as the cover shot of Kootch.